What's For Tea Cottage Pie (Slow Cooker)

Name: Traditional Cottage Pie | Scottish Recipe
Prep time: 35 min
Cook time: 6 h
Total time: 6 h 35 min
Yield: 5 servings
Ingredients: 500 g lean beef mince; 4 tbsp olive oil; 1 large onion, chopped; 2 large carrots, diced; 1 tsp garlic paste; 2 tbsp tomato puree; 3 tbsp plain flour; 568 ml beef stock; 100 ml red wine; 2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce; 1 tsp dried thyme; garden peas; salt and black pepper; 1 kg floury potatoes (Maris Piper or King Edward), peeled and cut to equal size; 100 ml milk; butter; 100 g finely grated Parmesan; 100 g fine breadcrumbs

Source video by What's For Tea? on YouTube. This recipe was adapted with strict source-fidelity rules.

From the What's For Tea? channel. Five hundred grams of lean beef mince is browned, then the diced carrots and chopped onion soften in the same pan. Tomato puree, garlic paste and a tsp of thyme cook in for a few minutes, then the mince goes back with one pint of beef stock, 100 ml of red wine, Worcestershire sauce and a couple of handfuls of peas. Adapted for the slow cooker, the filling cooks on Low for 6 hours instead of simmering. One kilo of floury potatoes mashes with milk and butter; finely grated Parmesan stirred through fine breadcrumbs goes on top, and the assembled pie hits the oven for 30 minutes to crisp the crust. Serves about five.

Slow cooker notes: Original simmers the mince on the hob for about 30 minutes before assembly. Adapted for the slow cooker: brown the mince and soften the carrots and onion in a pan first (the only flavour-building steps), tip into the slow cooker with the stock, wine, Worcestershire, peas, thyme and tomato puree and cook Low 6 hours. The flour from the original goes in once the mince is back with the veg, to thicken the gravy. Mash, top, breadcrumb-Parmesan and oven-crisp at the end. Don't skip the oven step; the crust is the dish.

Ingredients

Filling

500 glean beef mince
4 tbspolive oil
1large onion, chopped
2large carrots, diced
1 tspgarlic paste
2 tbsptomato puree
3 tbspplain flour
568 mlbeef stock
100 mlred wine
2 tbspWorcestershire sauce
1 tspdried thyme
garden peas
salt and black pepper

Mash topping

1 kgfloury potatoes (Maris Piper or King Edward), peeled and cut to equal size
100 mlmilk
butter

Crust

100 gfinely grated Parmesan (add late)
100 gfine breadcrumbs (add late)

Method

Heat 2 tbsp of olive oil in a large frying pan. Brown the mince all over without crowding, breaking it up. Lift out and set aside.
~8 min
Add another splash of oil to the pan. Fry the diced carrots for 10 minutes, then add the chopped onion and cook for another 10.
~20 min
Stir in the garlic paste, 2 tbsp of tomato puree and 3 tbsp of plain flour. Cook gently for 5 minutes, stirring, so the flour and puree don't catch.
~5 min
Tip the mince back into the pan with 100 ml of red wine and the pint of beef stock. Stir to lift the flour evenly through the liquid.
~2 min
Tip the whole pan into the slow cooker. Add the dried thyme, the peas and 2 tbsp of Worcestershire sauce. Stir.
~2 min
Lid on. Cook on Low for 6 hours (or High 4 hours).
~360 min
About 40 minutes before the slow cook finishes, boil the kilo of peeled potatoes in salted water until tender, about 30 minutes. Drain, return to the dry pan, lid on for 1 minute to steam off.
~35 min
Mash the potatoes with 100 ml of milk and a knob of butter. Season.
~4 min
Preheat the oven to 200C. Tip the slow-cooked mince into a Pyrex dish. Top with the mash, smooth the surface, then scatter the Parmesan-breadcrumb mix evenly over the top.
~5 min
Bake for 30 minutes until the crust is crisp and golden. Serve.
~30 min

Frequently asked

What's the difference between cottage pie and shepherd's pie?

Beef versus lamb. Cottage pie uses minced beef, shepherd's pie uses minced lamb. The construction is the same.

Can I make it vegetarian?

Yes. The cook says Quorn mince works as a direct swap. Use veg stock instead of beef stock to keep it fully vegetarian.

Why floury potatoes for the mash?

Floury varieties like Maris Piper or King Edward dry out properly when you steam them off, and mash to a light, dry topping that takes the crust. Waxy potatoes go gluey.

Do I have to finish it in the oven?

Yes. The Parmesan-breadcrumb crust is half the dish. Without the 30 minutes at 200C the top is just unbrowned mash.

Can I skip the wine?

Yes; bump the stock to a pint and a quarter. The wine adds body but it's not load-bearing.

Extraction notes (transparency): All ingredient quantities explicit. 'A knob of butter' left as quantity null per source. Peas given as 'a couple of handfuls'; recorded as null with the cook's phrasing in notes.